Despite numerous delays, Midway's Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC racer Wheelman finally has an official release date: February 16, 2009.

The game, a collaboration between Midway Studios Newcastle Ltd. and Vin Diesel's own game development house Tigon Studios, casts players as the titular wheelman modeled after Diesel himself. The gameplay is almost typical action racing, though setting the game in Barcelona, Spain is a novel touch.

I sat down with the game at Midway's booth during this year's E3 and I can't say I was terribly impressed. At the time the game was far from finished and was riddled with racing game clichés. Graphically it was above average, and some novel ideas were planned, but at the time it wasn't anything to write home about -- or, for that matter, a Game|Life post.

Personally I loved Diesel in Pitch Black, so I'm pulling for Wheelman to be a quality title if only to give the man something to do aside from endless Fast and Furious sequels.

Image courtesy Midway

Enjoying the customization of the avatars found in the Xbox 360's just-released New Xbox Experience? Good news! Additional customization options are planned to roll out for the next half a year.

"We’re going to be continually releasing and unlocking clothes for the next six months," Xbox Live product unit manager Jerry Johnson told Videogaming247. "They’ll be coming out in theme packs."

If I have one gripe about the NXE -- aside from the usual launch day hiccups -- it's that the range of pants one has to choose from in outfitting an avatar is severely lacking.

Three pairs of jeans? Depression-era hobos had a wider range of clothing options.

Image courtesy Microsoft

NXE: Avatar theme packs confirmed for next six months [Videogaming247]

Those waiting patiently for the "big announcement" regarding Fable II will be waiting a bit longer thanks to the release of today's Xbox 360 dashboard update.

As a favor to Microsoft, and to avoid stealing the limelight from the new dashboard, a post on the official Fable II developer blog reveals that developer Lionhead has opted to push the announcement back to Monday, November 24.

We still have no idea what the announcement will be (downloadable content add-on? playable Death Knight character class?) Lionhead has released a new Fable II theme for the Xbox 360 to tide players over. As usual the theme can be found on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Image courtesy Lionhead

Small Fable II News [Lionhead]

Sony has been ordered to pay $18.5 million for infringing on a patent held by Agere Systems for a "wireless local area network apparatus," reports PSPFanboy.

Agere sued Sony in 2006, saying the firm used the company's technology in its PSP handheld gaming system. The jury in the case recently sided with Agere, ordering Sony to pay $18.5 million for what it deemed "willful" violation of the smaller company's patent claim.

Agere's suit originally sought both profits lost from Sony's infringement as well as damages totaling three times the amount of those profits. It is unknown at this time how nearly the $18.5 million figure matches the sum originally sought, though it is certainly a significant win for Agere.

Image: Marcelo Alves/Flickr

Sony fined $18.5 million in patent infringement case [PSPFanboy]

As if you weren't already inundated with endless amounts of Street Fighter nostalgia leading up to the respective releases of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV, Capcom has just announced the "Season of Street Fighter."

An effort to celebrate the upcoming HD remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the "Season" will offer fans "an assortment of Street Fighter-themed downloadable content (DLC) packs" and "music inspired by Street Fighter."

Unbeknownst to most of us the Season actually began with the recent release of the Super Street Fighter Pinball FX downloadable pack, but will include the upcoming Street Fighter-themed add-on for the Xbox Live Arcade's Uno as well as "a direct-to-download music album of hip-hop tracks inspired by the Street Fighter series."

Unsurprisingly, Capcom fans can find all of this extra downloadable content in either the PlayStation Network's Capcom storefront or the Xbox Live Marketplace's upcoming Capcom-themed Branded Destination Experience. Specific release dates on the upcoming content have yet to be revealed, but Capcom's announcement was riddled with the word "soon."

Image courtesy Capcom

Despite the doom n' gloom reports painting PC gaming as a dying genre, market research firm JPR claims that the PC gaming market is vastly larger than that of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii combined.

A recent study conducted by the firm reports that sales of "gaming PCs" over the last three years have outdistanced gaming consoles by a huge margin: 196 million PCs sold versus 74.7 PS3s, Xbox 360s and Wiis.

Additionally, the report believes that the PC gaming market will top $34 billion by 2012.

Notably absent from the report is any data on sales of handheld systems -- a sector of gaming that traditionally tops standard consoles by virtue of price alone -- or any examination of how many "gaming PC" buyers are actually using those computers to play games.

Image: Yannick Croissant/Flickr

Study Claims PC Market is the Largest [Edge]

Yes, yes: Not one but two Wired.com contributors have already weighed in on the first-person parkour game Mirror's Edge. There's still more to be said.

One of the biggest sticking points with Mirror's Edge is that it is faced with a dilemma not unfamiliar to designers of action games. How do you make the player feel as if he is on a non-stop thrill ride, but also challenge him? Mirror's Edge is a game about parkour. How do you replicate that sense of running, jumping, and climbing in a non-stop flow -- but also penalize the player for screwing up?

It's a tricky problem, and I don't envy anyone who has to try to solve it. Mirror's Edge makes a valiant effort, but falls just on the wrong side of the line: There's just a touch more frustration than flow.

Continue reading "Third Opinion: The Fundamental Dilemma of Mirror's Edge" »

We at Game|Life would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to our pal, Kotaku night editor and Wired magazine contributing editor Brian Ashcraft, on the birth of his second son (far right).

Congrats also to Green Pixels EIC Dana Jongewaard on her new baby! Born on the same day, as near as we can figure.

Ashcraft named his first son Ren Atom, after the Ren & Stimpy character and Tetsuwan Atom, aka Astro Boy. In doing so, Brian earned enormous geek cred for himself and endless playground beatings for his child.

We now call upon him to name his second son after some videogame characters. Pikachu Bandicoot Ashcraft. Better: Conker Boogerman Ashcraft. It rolls off the tongue.

Also, congratulations to our friend Joel Johnson for giving birth -- to a new website called Offworld. (See what we did there?) Boing Boing's new gaming site looks pretty fantastic and he wanted us to mention it. So we did.

Image stolen from Kotaku and we hope they do not mind

First Heidi Klum, and now a guy riding a bike to the beat of a Guitar Hero song: Viral YouTube videos celebrating Activision's guitar videogames seem to be all the rage these days.

The "director's cut" of the TV spot for Guitar Hero World Tour, which shows the totally stacked German supermodel rocking out in a bra and panties and a whole lotta hair, has racked up nearly 2 million views since it was posted on YouTube two weeks ago.

Now a new video celebrating the game has turned up on YouTube, this one apparently posted by a fan. There's no T&A in this one, but judging from the user comments, viewers are finding it pretty cool all the same.

"Bike Hero," the three-and-a-half-minute clip, shows the game from the point of view of a kid who's playing it, but instead of using one of the game's controllers, he's riding a bike that has a controller built into its handlebars.

The route he's traveling -- down bike paths, across a highway, through a parking lot, over a bridge -- is paved with colored notes, as they would appear onscreen, of The Living End's 1999 punk anthem "Prisoner of Society," one of the game's featured tracks. The video appears to have been shot from a videocam mounted on the guy's forehead. What you see is a music video in the guise of a new game category: first-person rocker.

Continue reading "Video: 'Bike Hero' Grinds Out Guitar Hero Tune With His Handlebars" »

The end is near again: Valve has unleashed Left 4 Dead for PC and Xbox 360, summoning yet another zombie apocalypse for beleaguered first-person shooter fans.

Tons of zombies and a creepy atmosphere? Check. Limited supplies and ammunition? Check. But things are quite a bit different here. Blurring the line between survival horror and cinema -- right down to the kitschy movie posters and dynamically generated banter between characters -- Left 4 Dead offers a decidedly new style of team-based zombie hunting.

Over the course of four campaigns with five maps each, four survivors must battle seemingly insurmountable odds -- with the biggest barrier to success being how well everyone works together. My first hands-on with the game left me with bitter feelings toward my fellow man -- perhaps we deserved this cruel fate after all, if we couldn't even move down a hallway without panicking and being ripped to shreds. But with the game's Tuesday release, I've had a change of heart.

While there is an offline, single-player option, chances are you'll want to take on zombies -- or humans, if you're so inclined -- online with friends and strangers. Left 4 Dead isn't your typical zombie frag-fest, so here are four rather important things to remember while you're prepping for battle.

Continue reading "4 Things to Keep in Mind While Killing Zombies in Left 4 Dead" »

Capcom has unveiled the second official trailer for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, complete with Joe Esposito's seminal Karate Kid anthem "You're The Best."

Not only is the music perfectly suited to the classic fighting game action, the game again looks utterly phenomenal. Even alongside all the huge blockbuster releases of this holiday season, SSFIITHDR is one of my most anticipated titles of the year.

Thankfully the long wait for the recreated classic is almost over. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers will be able to download the game come November 27.

It's an odd quirk of massively multiplayer online gaming that World of Warcraft has completely trumped its competition not purely on the creativity of its gameplay, but by delivering a game that isn't broken.

The MMO's latest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, provides further proof of developer Blizzard Entertainment's commitment to both quality and quantity. Lich King adds vast new swaths of content to suck away hours of gamers' lives. The add-on succeeds because of the unparalleled level of polish Blizzard gives all its games, and at $40, Lich King is also the best dollar-per-hour deal you're likely to find in any new videogame.

Blizzard's famous attention to detail has helped draw 11 million players to Warcraft since the MMO's 2004 launch. They've spent countless hours questing, socializing and slaying monsters and wildlife in the expansive fantasy world.

These players will thoroughly enjoy Lich King. The content additions are far too numerous to list here, but every segment of the WoW fan base will find something to enjoy in the expansion pack.

Continue reading "Review: Wrath of the Lich King Adds Warcraft's Finest Content Yet" »

Despite the arguable success of the iPhone as a gaming platform, analyst group Juniper claims that sales of games for mobile phones have "flatlined across North America and Western Europe."

Though the sector is expected to nearly double in size over the next five years, poor marketing and limited profit potential have conspired to drive many developers away to the more verdant, traditional platforms of PC and gaming consoles.

"The revenue share offered by Apple to games publishers is incredibly attractive," wrote Dr. Windsor Holden in the report. "The danger is that if operators do not respond with a similar business model, publishers faced with low margins may simply exit Java completely, thereby reducing consumer choice in the longer term."

Image: Graffiti By Numbers/Flickr

Sales of mobile games have "flatlined" - report [GamesIndustry.biz]

Age of Conan's next patch will include the long awaited DirectX 10 graphics engine upgrades fans have been promised since the game's launch half a year ago, according to creator Funcom.

"We are now preparing to take the DirectX 10 version of the game from our internal testing servers out to the public test servers, so you can see it for yourselves," wrote game director Craig Morrison in his latest community letter.

"The next major game update will include this version of the game and make it available for everyone with the appropriate hardware to enjoy," he added.

Continue reading "Age of Conan (Finally) Gets DirectX 10 in Next Patch" »

Not to be outdone by Capcom's branded PlayStation Network storefront, Microsoft has granted the firm a "Branded Destination Experience" for the upcoming Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

Similar to the PlayStation Network offering, the "Branded Destination Experience" -- which launches tomorrow -- gives fans a central online location where they can find information on the game, trailers, news and presumably purchase both the title and its peripheral items (gamer pictures, themes, etc).

"With 1080p high-definition art and graphics, and the ultimate user feature set, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is the perfect game to compliment the New Xbox Experience," said Capcom's vice president of strategic planning and business development Christian Svensson.

Image courtesy Capcom

Two developers who were previously creating games for publisher Brash, are now suing the firm for pay owed to them after Brash stopped sending out checks roughly two months ago, according to Variety.

7 Studios claims Brash owes $468,000 for the firm's work on a game adaptation of an upcoming Tim Burton film and $113,000 for Six Flags Fun Park (pictured at right). Developer Zootfly is seeking $748,000 for its work on the game adaptation of Fox television show Prison Break.

News of these suits follows hot on the heels of Brash closing its doors last week. Variety's Ben Fritz posits the idea that with so many projects in the works at Brash and the publisher seemingly ceasing payment to all developers for the last two months, more lawsuits aimed at Brash are almost inevitable.

Image courtesy Brash

Brash sued by two developers [Variety]

Following a 24-hour marathon gaming session in World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion, a 15-year-old Swedish boy collapsed and went into convulsions, reports the Times Online.

"They played all day and all night. Maybe they got a few hours of sleep. They ate a little food and breakfast at their computers," the boy's father told newspapers in Sweden.

Doctors who examined the boy determined that he had an epileptic seizure brought on by lack of sleep, lack of proper food and prolonged exposure to the mental stress of playing Wrath of the Lich King.

Image courtesy Blizzard Entertainment

Boy collapses after playing World of Warcraft for 24 hours straight [Times Online]

SAN FRANCISCO -- Real-time strategy videogames have long been confined almost exclusively to the PC, mostly because of the fact that they control best with a mouse and keyboard. Since the genre combines the micromanagement of a squad full of individual units with fast-paced gameplay, attempts at controlling games like Red Alert or Age of Empires with delicate precision usually fail with a console's game controller.

With Halo Wars, Microsoft makes a valiant attempt to bring the genre to Xbox 360, in a familiar wrapper. The end result, which Microsoft says will ship to stores in February, won't have real-time strategy fans ditching their preferred control implements. But playing the game at a recent event here, I came away pleasantly surprised.

Halo Wars isn't designed by Bungie. It's the product of Ensemble Studios, the creators of Microsoft's popular Age of Empires strategy games. But the battles still look quite a bit like the Halo world you know and love. Everything from the strafing fire of Covenant aircraft to the exact crunching sound of a Warthog plowing into a pack of Grunts has been replicated faithfully.

Fans of the first-person shooter games will appreciate these touches. But will they play a radically different kind of game, one that relies on strategy and unit management over fast trigger fingers? I don't know. But Halo Wars' great interface, intelligent troops and well-balanced gameplay seem to be coming together well -- in spite of the fact that you have to use a control pad.

Continue reading "Hands On: Halo Wars, for Couch-Based Commanders" »

What's the fate of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers for Wii?

In its most recent issue, Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine said in its rumors column that the role-playing game had been "quietly canceled." Square Enix was quick to issue a lengthy statement to the effect that it was very much alive. Who's right? After looking at the situation, it seems likeliest that Crystal Bearers isn't dead -- but that much like so many other Square Enix projects, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to ship.

Crystal Bearers was one of the first Wii projects that Square Enix announced, at the 2006 E3 where Nintendo pulled back the curtain on the console. It was only shown as a very early trailer video, but at that point it looked like a direct sequel to the multiplayer GameCube game.

Continue reading "Wii Final Fantasy: Still Vaporware, But Not Dead" »

The Nintendo DSi is here. Well, actually, it's only available in Japan, so it's really there, not here.

I've been using one for the last week, and sat down with Gadget Lab's Danny Dumas to discuss Nintendo's latest refresh of its popular portable platform on this week's Game|Life video. The cameras! The downloadable software! The internets! I wrote a product review of the DSi for our reviews site, which you can go read now.

While I am not over a barrel for the new hardware features as of yet, it does in the end come down to software. Nintendo launched DSi in Japan with basically nothing in that area: The camera and music apps are fun to mess around with, but not worth the purchase price on their own. And while the DSi Ware shop is functional, easy to use, and filled with promise, there isn't anything up on it yet except the Opera web browser software, which is merely OK.

I'll be writing a lot more about the downloadable DSi apps once they actually release some. For now, I'm just enjoying the matte finish (more comfortable) and bigger, brighter screens (even though they eat battery like crazy).

As always, if you're having trouble viewing the embedded video above, this week's episode of Game|Life the Video is also available on Wired.com's YouTube channel and on iTunes.

Nintendo DSi Review [Wired]

See also:

• Game|Life the Video 33: Resistance vs. Gears
• Game|Life the Video 32: Romancing the SuperGrafx
• Game|Life the Video 31: Cook, Play Music With Nintendo
• Game|Life the Video 30: Violent Wii Titles Woo Hard-Core Gamers